[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 17 (Monday, February 2, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H687-H692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be
given 5 days to revise and extend their remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by welcoming our new members
and by thanking the gentlewoman from Ohio, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge,
for her leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus during the 113th
Congress. Thanks to her dedication and tireless work, this caucus is
better positioned to address the diverse challenges of the African
American community.
I also want to thank the new CBC chair, the Honorable Congressman
G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina. I am confident that he will do a
great job leading this caucus with steadfast commitment to justice and
to building an America that works for everyone.
Let me also thank my counterpart, the Honorable Congresswoman Robin
Kelly, for joining me in leading the CBC Special Orders this year. I am
truly honored to take on this new role, and I look forward to working
with her as we help carry out the critical mission of this caucus.
Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago, in the midst of the civil rights movement,
hundreds of brave men and women gathered in Selma, Alabama, to begin a
long, arduous march to Montgomery in support of the fundamental truth:
that every American, regardless of what they look like, has the right
to vote.
{time} 1930
On March 7, 1965, 600 men and women set out from Selma following the
death of 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson, a deacon from Marion, Alabama,
who died from gunshot wounds inflicted by a State trooper at a
nonviolent demonstration.
Theirs was a peaceful, nonviolent march, but it was met with fierce
brutality. It would take the marchers two more attempts to arrive at
Montgomery; but on March 25, after a 12-day journey, they did arrive.
Since that day, our country has made significant strides in achieving
equality and justice for all, but significant challenges remain unmet.
Tonight, we will examine where we have come from, where we are, and
where we would like to go as a society. We must be ready to go.
In 1965, Selma became the focal point of voter registration efforts
in the South. At the time, only 2 percent of the city's eligible
African American voters had been able to register. The impact of Selma
to the Montgomery march was profound.
As Dr. King said, ``Selma produced the voting rights legislation of
1965.'' The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned discriminatory voting
requirements that disenfranchised African American voters throughout
this country; yet, today, the dream of full equality is still something
many African Americans can only dream of.
Where we are, nearly 6 years after the end of the recession, people
still struggle to find work, and the gap between the rich and poor
continues to grow. For African Americans, this situation is severe,
given the disproportionate effect of unemployment on our communities.
At the same time, there remains widespread poverty, a defining
challenge of our time. This persistent economic inequality threatens to
undercut the gains that African American communities have made, and it
undermines the idea of economic mobility, the idea that if you work
hard in this country and have ambition, you can get ahead. The economic
crisis is not only facing African American communities.
Where we are in education, education is the most important economic
investment we can make now and for future generations; yet, across the
country, we still have seen cuts to education at all levels and attacks
on critical programs like Head Start and Pell grants.
These attacks undermine the ability of African Americans to get
ahead--that is why I strongly support President Obama's new, bold
initiative for free access to community colleges--so, too, do efforts
to dismantle social safety net programs which our communities depend
on. Those efforts are irresponsible, unjust, and contrary to who we are
as Americans.
The Congressional Black Caucus will make criminal justice reform a
centerpiece of our agenda. We will work to reduce the epidemic of
poverty in this country. We will work to create educational
opportunities for African American children, and we will support
efforts to strengthen our 105 Historically Black Colleges and
Universities.
The CBC also remains committed to fighting against efforts to
dismantle the social safety net. We are determined to restore section 5
of the Voting Rights Act and to make sure everyone, regardless of what
they look like or where they come from, has equal access to the polls,
and we resolve to ensure that increasing diversity in this Nation is
reflected in American corporations.
Together, these policies will bring us closer as a nation where we
are empowering the communities of African Americans, and they will
benefit from the full equality and live the American Dream. There is no
doubt that we are in difficult times in this Nation.
Injustices are widespread and threaten some of our most fundamental
rights, but we will find no answers in apathy, no comfort in
complacency. As we always have, we will continue the march for
progress, for freedom, for justice, and for equality for all.
Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and privilege now that I yield to the
distinguished gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms. Robin Kelly.
Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Thank you, my friend from New Jersey. It is an
honor to host with you this year. I am excited about the work ahead for
the CBC in the 114th Congress. I also want to acknowledge the great job
that Congressman Horsford and Congressman Jeffries did in hosting the
Special Order hour in the 113th Congress. I also want to honor our past
chair, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, for all of her great work.
Discussing 50 years from Selma, where we were, where we are, and
where we are headed, I expect this to be very stimulating, frustrating,
and rewarding all at the same time. It remains that we have a lot of
work to do.
Mr. PAYNE. I thank the gentlewoman.
Mr. Speaker, at this time, it is my honor and privilege for the first
time in the 114th Congress to have the chairman of the Congressional
Black Caucus, G.K. Butterfield, address us, and I yield to the
gentleman.
Mr. BUTTERFIELD. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
[[Page H688]]
The Congressional Black Caucus is delighted to come to the floor this
evening to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights
Act.
At the end of slavery, Mr. Speaker, in 1865, which was 150 years ago,
the State of North Carolina had a slave population of 331,000 slaves.
After the passage of the 13th Amendment and ratification of it by 27
States, these slaves became free. They became American citizens, and
males 21 years old or older would soon be entitled to vote.
Among those 331,000 slaves gaining freedom, 128,000 of them resided
in my congressional district. In some of the counties, the Black
population exceeded the White population.
In 1870, African American citizens gained the right to vote by the
enactment of the 15th Amendment. For the next 30 years, Mr. Speaker,
African American men voted in large numbers and became a political
force in State politics.
Four African Americans were elected to Congress in North Carolina,
eight in South Carolina, three in Alabama, and one each in Georgia,
Florida, Mississippi, Virginia, and Louisiana. Many more were elected
to State and local office.
In 1900, after KKK violence and lynchings had not deterred Black
political participation, most Southern States passed disfranchisement
laws requiring a literacy test and the payment of a poll tax. These
laws had the intent and effect of disenfranchising Black people from
voting, and it worked. For the next half century, African Americans
were effectively denied the right to vote with a few exceptions.
Following his 1964 acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., approached President Lyndon Johnson about advocating
for a strong voting rights law that would enforce the 15th Amendment.
President Johnson was uncomfortable in advancing the idea of a voting
rights law, which greatly disappointed Dr. King. Dr. King was motivated
to launch the Selma voting rights movement.
On March 7, 1965, under the leadership of Dr. King, John Lewis, and
others, Black residents of Selma attempted to march from Brown Chapel
Church to the Alabama State capital to demand a voting rights law.
As they approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the marchers were
brutalized, and they were terrorized by State police and forced to
retreat. We now refer to this confrontation as ``Bloody Sunday.''
Two days later, the marchers again began their journey to Montgomery,
but as they crossed the bridge and saw the strong police presence, they
turned around and returned to the church. At this point, President
Johnson was outraged with Governor George Wallace for preventing the
march. Johnson telephoned Wallace to demand that the marchers walk to
Montgomery without incident.
Three weeks later, on March 21, 1965, Dr. King persuaded thousands of
Black and White to come to Selma to participate in the march. The march
proceeded without incident. Fifty thousand participated.
Following the March, a White marcher, Mrs. Viola Liuzzo from Detroit,
was murdered while transporting marchers back to Selma. Jimmie Lee
Jackson was killed by police during a Selma protest in February 1965.
Saddened by these murders, President Johnson reconsidered his
unwillingness to promote voting rights legislation. He went on national
television on March 15 and announced that he would support a voting
rights bill.
Despite the Southern filibuster, the Voting Rights Act was enacted
into law on August 6, 1965. This important law has changed the
political landscape for African American communities. It bans the use
of literacy tests. It gives minority communities the right to litigate
discriminatory election schemes that dilute their vote.
The act provides for a section 5 that requires certain jurisdictions
with discriminatory histories to preclear election law changes with the
Attorney General. To our great dismay, on June 25, 2013, the U.S.
Supreme Court made section 5 unenforceable because the data used to
determine covered jurisdictions is outdated, according to the Supreme
Court. The Supreme Court has now called on Congress to modify the
formula.
To this day, Mr. Speaker, our Republican colleagues have refused to
allow the bipartisan VRA amendment bill to be voted upon. In fact, the
chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Goodlatte, announced that he
has no intention to legislate a modification to the formula, and so the
effect of not having section 5 is to allow jurisdictions to pass
discriminatory election laws with impunity and without oversight.
The Voting Rights Act has enabled African American communities to
elect hundreds of Black elected officials. We successfully litigated
dozens and dozens of cases. Many of my colleagues were elected because
enforcement of the Voting Rights Act forced--forced--States to draw
congressional districts where Black communities are not submerged and
their vote diluted.
Mr. Speaker, this story must be understood by every American citizen.
The right to vote for African Americans was obtained by blood, sweat,
and tears; and we are determined--the Congressional Black Caucus is
determined--to continue this fight into 2016 and beyond.
Mr. Payne, thank you very much for yielding time.
Mr. PAYNE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are looking forward to your
leadership in the 114th Congress, and we will continue to strive to
make sure that the issues that the CBC find important are relevant on
the day-to-day basis.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr.
Clyburn), the leader, who has probably forgotten more about the goings-
on and the rules in this Chamber than I will ever know.
Mr. CLYBURN. Thank you so much, Mr. Payne, for yielding me time. I
appreciate your accolades, and I promise you that my long, distant
memory is getting very good, but I assure you that your contributions
to this great body are very much appreciated.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I opened up Black History Month with a speech
at Cornerstone Baptist Church on Wayne Street in Columbia, South
Carolina. They had an interesting topic for me to develop. It was all
about remembering our past and preparing for the future.
Chairman Butterfield has talked a little bit about the past that many
of us remember, but 50 years after Selma, we must turn to the question
that Martin Luther King, Jr., asked in one of his great books: Where do
we go from here, chaos or community?
Statistics show that there are nearly 500 counties and thousands of
communities in the United States that are classified by the United
States Census Bureau as persistent poverty areas. They are so defined
because 20 percent of their populations have lived below the poverty
level for the past 30 years or more.
{time} 1945
They are diverse, including Caucasian communities in States like West
Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee; Native American communities in
States like South Dakota, Alaska, and Oklahoma; Latino communities in
States like Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; and African American
communities in States like South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi.
They are urban communities in States like New York and heartland
communities in States like Missouri. 139 of these counties are
represented in this body by Democrats; 331 of these counties are
represented in this body by Republicans; and 18 of these counties are
split between the two parties. Combating persistent poverty should
matter to all of us, regardless of party, geography, or race.
In early 2009, when we were putting together the Recovery Act, I
proposed language to require that at least 10 percent of funds in three
rural development accounts be directed to efforts in these persistent-
poverty counties. This requirement was enacted into law. In light of
the definition of persistent-poverty counties as having at least 20
percent poverty rates over 30 years, the provision became known as the
10-20-30 initiative.
This initiative bore dividends as economic development projects
proliferated in persistent poverty communities across the country.
Using the 10-20-30 formula, the Recovery Act funded a total of 4,655
projects in persistent-poverty counties, totaling nearly $1.7 billion.
I saw firsthand the positive effects of these projects in my district.
[[Page H689]]
We were able to undertake projects to create jobs that would have
otherwise languished. Among those investments was a $5.8 million grant
and a $2 million loan to construct 51 miles of water lines in the
little community of Brittons Neck in Marion County, South Carolina.
There are many other success stories.
In Lowndes County, Mississippi, $17.5 million was spent to install a
water line, elevated tank, and two wastewater pump stations, providing
potable water to rural Mississippians and creating badly needed
construction jobs.
The Wellborn Special Utility District in Brazos County, Texas,
received a $538,000 loan to construct more than 9 miles of new water
distribution lines and connect over 60 households to a new water
system.
In 2011, I joined with our former Republican colleague,
Representative Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, to introduce an amendment to
the continuing resolution that would have continued 10-20-30 for rural
development and expanded it to 11 additional accounts throughout the
Federal Government affecting economic development, education, job
training, health, justice, the environment, and more.
I want to make one thing clear about the 10-20-30 approach. It does
not--I repeat, it does not--add one dime to the deficit. It simply
targets resources from funds already authorized or appropriated.
Over the past 30 years, the national economy has risen and fallen
multiple times. During each economic downturn, while we have been
rightly focused on getting the economy as a whole back on track, we
have not given adequate attention to these communities that are
suffering from chronic distress and Depression-era levels of
joblessness.
As a result, they have suffered even in good economic times. The 10-
20-30 approach would provide a mechanism to address this deprivation in
times of want and in times of plenty, in times of Federal investment
and in times of fiscal austerity.
Last year, I wrote an essay on 10-20-30 which was published in the
Harvard Journal on Legislation. I discussed the history of our Nation's
efforts to address chronic poverty and more fully laid out the case for
broadly implementing 10-20-30 in a bipartisan fashion.
Mr. Speaker, as we begin to put our 2016 budget together, I look
forward to working with all Members in this body on both sides of the
aisle irrespective of what State or county you may represent. I look
forward to working together so that we can make a real productive
legacy for Selma and we can move forward and answer Dr. King's question
``Chaos or community?'' with a resounding: We are building communities.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Clyburn. As in the past, the
Congressional Black Caucus will work to continue to reduce the epidemic
of poverty in this country. When over 45 million Americans live below
the poverty line, we are failing as a nation. As Congressman
Butterfield said earlier this month, the CBC will advocate the Clyburn
10-20-30 plan, which redirects at least 10 percent of an agency's
grants in its discretionary budget to communities where at least 20
percent of the population has lived below the poverty line for the past
30 years. These are the issues that we will continue to work on as
members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
It is now my honor to yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Rangel), one of my mentors since before I arrived in Congress, a former
friend of my father's and a great colleague.
Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I wish I had a prepared statement, but I was
so moved after listening and being a part of this great congressional
group in this great country to be able to celebrate 50 years since the
Voting Rights Act.
As a kid who grew up on the streets of Lenox Avenue and dropped out
of high school, I didn't have the benefit of having anything to attach
a dream to that would allow me to believe that one day I could be
sitting in the United States House of Representatives.
But after returning from the war in Korea and after being the
beneficiary of the GI bill, and after graduating from law school, I was
able to see and hear atrocities that have been committed on Black folks
in this country the likes of which I had not seen except during
wartime. And even though my mother's family came from Virginia, in the
city of New York even today I don't ever remember meeting any White
people from the South. I don't know what that is. Perhaps Congressman
Butterfield may be able to do some historical research about why they
stayed in the South and didn't come to New York City, where racism had
a sugar coating to it. They didn't use dogs and bombs and things of
that nature. But I recall so vividly seeing people like Andy Young and
especially our dear friend and colleague, John Lewis, be prepared to
put their lives on the line for our country, not for themselves.
In Korea and in most wars, people fight to stay alive and they don't
voluntarily put their life on the line, as John Lewis and others have
done. But what happened was, when they had the first Selma march, what
we refer to as Bloody Sunday, years before our beloved Congresswoman
was born, I saw something that really pained me as an American rather
than as a human being. And then they had the second march from Selma to
Montgomery and Dr. King pulled that back, and then we had the plea for
people from all over the country to come down for the third march. I
recalled before, I had bad feet and wasn't thinking about going to
Selma to do 54 miles, but the inspiration to see people that had been
prepared to put their life on the line for me and others like me could
not allow me to return to New York.
It is very interesting that I have to admit publicly that when I
heard the voice of Lyndon Johnson coming across on radio and television
saying, ``We shall overcome,'' I kind of thought, Terri, that those
were our words. And if a White person was to say it, I never expected
to find that accent of the very people that sounded as though they were
part of a conspiracy to keep children of slaves from assimilating into
the constitutional beliefs that we had since learned to live by and
enjoy and hope for.
What an historic moment that was. What a revolutionary period that
was, because as we review that and look at the picture ``Selma,'' we
wonder where did all of the people that represented this hatred go, the
people who stood in the way of people registering voters; the people
who took advantage of the idea that just because of their complexion
they were superior; the people that belonged to the Ku Klux Klan; the
people who used religion as a sword instead of a shield? Did they
disappear? What happened to the so-called Dixiecrats?
But then I am reminded that as a result of the Voting Rights Act and
the Civil Rights Act that they didn't go very far, that they threw down
their party label but they stayed in the same places, and many of them
are doing the same thing--trying to continue to prevent people of color
from enjoying their full constitutional voting rights.
Then when I was honored enough to come down here in 1971 with half a
dozen Congressional Black Caucus members, nine, who joined with four of
us who had decided to form the Congressional Black Caucus, you could
not believe, Congressman Payne, how it was never our dream that that
small group would go from 13 to 26 to 40 to 46 to 47, and reach the
historic impact on our policy and on our Nation, a group that had no
intention of doing anything except to introduce, create, and support
policies that could make this great country even stronger for all of
us. And true, we have a lot of obstacles to overcome, but I don't think
any group of people have been as successful as we have in coming from
the pits of slavery in such a short period of time as we are now, and
to see how much more work we have to do so that one day our children
and our grandchildren will say: Why did they have to have a
Congressional Black Caucus? Why wasn't it just a Democratic caucus? Why
did we need it?
{time} 2000
Well, because of the intellect, the commitment of individual members
of the Black Caucus, like the rest of the Congress, that come from all
walks of life and they got here to make this a better country, a more
effective Congress, soon and very soon, we may hear those words: Why
were we needed?
[[Page H690]]
Until we accomplish these lofty goals, thank God that we have had it.
I think that the Democrats appreciate the work that we are trying to
do, and one day, as so many people who got rid of their sheets, their
children and their grandchildren would see that we only were trying to
eliminate the pain for all people, regardless of color, to make the
red, white, and blue, rather than just whether you are Black or White,
become the theme that the fathers of this Constitution should have been
striving for.
There is no question in my mind that the things we stand for really
and what the country is committed to do, and I am so proud of these
last couple of years, that there is not a group of people I would
rather spend my time with than with my friends and my colleagues in the
Congressional Black Caucus.
Mr. PAYNE. I thank the gentleman from New York. His kind thoughts and
perspective is always, always needed in this House.
Now, I have the honor and the privilege of yielding to the
gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell), who represents the city, the
town, that is on everybody's breath over the last couple of months.
Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the CBC for this
Special Order hour, and I commend my colleague from New Jersey (Mr.
Payne) and my colleague from Illinois (Ms. Kelly) for choosing such a
great topic for tonight's Special Order hour.
Selma, Lord, Selma. I have the great pleasure of standing before you
not only as a Representative who represents the great city of Selma but
as a native of Selma, Alabama, and a lifelong member of the historic
Brown Chapel AME Church.
I know that the journey I now take, the journey that many others who
are here today take, was only made possible because of the courage,
fortitude, and determination of those brave men and women on that
bridge, Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965.
We who have the privilege and honor of taking this journey must ask
ourselves: What will we do to extend the legacy? What will we do to
protect the legacy?
Selma is the soul of America. It is the place where the struggle for
civil rights and voting rights began, the epicenter, if you will, of
the voting rights movement.
It deserves to be more than just a footnote in the history books. It
deserves to take up chapters in the history books, the tactical and
strategic voices of Martin Luther King and those brave men and women of
SCLC and SNCC that had the fortitude and had the intellect to see this
as a strategy, to know that they were speaking not only for themselves
and their children, but for future generations.
Only a true visionary could defeat such opposition with little more
than a dream, and Dr. King held so tightly to his that it forced our
country to become a more equal and just nation.
Some want to forget the painful past. I know many in my district and
many in my city would like to forget our painful past, but we cannot
turn the pages as if certain chapters were never written; nor can we
celebrate how far we have come without first acknowledging where we
have been. Bloody Sunday forced America to confront its own inhumanity.
Our painful past has ushered in a new day.
As I tell my constituents, out of our painful past came the birth of
a movement that changed a nation, and from that movement came a human
rights movement that changed a world. If we don't write our own
history, others will tell it for us, and they may not be so kind, they
may not tell our history the way we would tell our history.
My father grew up in Selma, as did I, and the Selma of my childhood
was very, very different than the Selma of my father's childhood. There
has been progress. My father went to segregated schools in Selma. My
father drank from ``colored only'' fountains in Selma. My father's
mother never got the chance to vote, though she tried to register
several times.
The Selma that I grew up in had an integrated public high school, a
public high school that was 55 percent African American and 45 percent
White. Yes, across town, there was an all-White private school.
I want you to know that the Selma I grew up in, in the seventies and
eighties, it produced me as its first Black valedictorian of Selma High
School. I know that Selma and the journey that we all take now because
of Selma was only made possible because of the bravery of others.
As I stood to give my speech as a valedictorian in 1982 at Selma High
School, I remember standing up and saying:
Maybe one day I could join the likes of a Charlie Rangel,
of a John Lewis, in the House of Congress.
I said it as a pious, overly confident teenager probably, but I said
it with every vigor because I believed in my heart that I could be and
do anything. Why? Because the people of that community nurtured me,
Black and White, my teachers, my Girl Scout troop leaders, my Sunday
school teachers.
Yes, I had proud parents who were educators, educated at Alabama
State University, and because of their education at this wonderful
quality institution of higher learning, I had a chance to go to
Princeton--but I had more than that. I had an obligation to give back,
to make sure that others had an opportunity to walk through those same
doors. It wasn't enough to be the first.
In fact, I was most proud 5 years after I graduated from Princeton
that April Williams from Selma High School got to go to Princeton. I
must have done something right.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 would have never been possible had it
not been for the intellect, the mind of these wonderful leaders, some
known. All of us know about the contributions of our colleague, John
Lewis; all of us know about the contributions of the SCLC, Andy Young,
and Martin Luther King.
Some unknown, like my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Richie Jean Jackson,
she was featured in the movie ``Selma'' because it was her home, the
home that she shared with Dr. Jackson, the first Black dentist in
Selma, that housed Martin Luther King and Andrew Young and all those
leaders every time they came to Selma because they couldn't stay at the
all-White hotel.
Mrs. Jackson was my sixth grade teacher. Mrs. Jackson did not live to
see the movie ``Selma,'' but I am proud that this body is seeking to
provide a Congressional Gold Medal to the foot soldiers of the
movement, so that the Richie Jacksons, Mrs. Jacksons of the world, who
had the bravery to go and be on that bridge Bloody Sunday or Turnaround
Tuesday or the ultimate final march from Selma to Montgomery, that they
are acknowledged by this Nation for the sacrifices that they made.
In closing, I want to remind my colleagues of my guest at the State
of the Union, January 20, 2015. My special guest was the 103-year-old
Amelia Boynton.
Amelia Boynton was characterized in the movie ``Selma'' as the proud
African American woman who told Coretta Scott King:
You are prepared. You are the descendants of kings and
queens. Your heritage is one and your bloodline is one that
survived slave ships. You are prepared.
Amelia Boynton is known for her bravery that Bloody Sunday when she
was bludgeoned, but she came back 2 days later on Turnaround Tuesday
and continued to fight in Selma long after this march from Selma to
Montgomery.
She honored us with her presence, and as person after person came up
to her and kissed her on the cheek and said, ``Miss Boynton, I stand on
your shoulders today, thank you,'' Miss Boynton said something very
poignant. She said, ``Everybody keeps talking about being on my
shoulders. I tell them, Get off my shoulders, do your own work, there
is plenty of work to be done.'' I want to remind my colleagues that
there is plenty of work for us still to do.
I want to honor the legacy of Amelia Boynton, F.D. Reese, John Lewis,
and so many; but we cannot honor their legacy without acknowledging
that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, major sections of it, have been
invalidated.
We owe it to that legacy, the legacy and memory of those who fought
so valiantly, that this body should once again work together to make
sure that Federal protections are there because, as we know, progress
is always elusive, all battles become new again, and there is a renewed
assault on voting.
[[Page H691]]
It may not be counting how many jelly beans are in a jar or how many
county judges there are in the State of Alabama; but, nevertheless, we
still have modern-day barriers to voting that we must overcome.
I hope that we have the courage of our own convictions to see the
movie ``Selma'' as a beginning of a national conversation about how we
can continue to recommit ourselves to the ideals that were fought on
that Bloody Sunday. I know that if we combined our hearts and our
minds, both sides of the aisle will see that it is in everyone's best
interest that all Americans have the right to vote.
I thank my colleagues of the CBC for having this Special Order hour.
I invite all of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to come to
Selma, to experience the living history, and I hope that we will all
come away from the 50th commemoration of the march from Selma to
Montgomery with a renewed vigor to once again provide Federal
protection for all Americans to exercise that sacred right to vote.
Mr. PAYNE. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
{time} 2015
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, this is a very important evening. I
thank my colleagues, both Mr. Payne of New Jersey and Ms. Kelly, for,
first of all, taking up a very important challenge of being able to
lead the members of the Congressional Black Caucus through this period
of challenge to America.
I am reflective of the number of Members who have had the chance to
convey their thoughts, and each one I thank personally: our chairman,
Mr. G.K. Butterfield, for his leadership and his internal knowledge
from his walk in life of the civil rights journey; Mr. Clyburn for
living and understanding the civil rights journey and conveying it in
his legislative journey; Mr. Rangel for his service to this Nation as a
Korean war vet and then coming home to be a vet of the civil rights
effort; then, of course, the holder of the seat who represents Selma
for her life story.
Today, I rise to ask the question, What is our moral standard? And,
following the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, why we can't wait.
This is a clarion call to my colleagues--Democrats and Republicans--
that, in fact, this year--of all years--calls for us to act. It calls
for us to be able to understand why the Nation cannot wait and who is
going to lift up the moral standard.
The walk from Selma to Montgomery turned into Bloody Sunday. It was
where a young man by the name of John Lewis stood bravely alongside
names like Hosea Williams. It was, of course, a place where the world
watched, and it became the stair steps on which the Voting Rights Act
was passed.
Today, we realize that, on the shoulders of that tragic time,
violence claimed the life of Jimmie Lee Jackson, beaten by State
troopers as he was attempting to protect his mother and others, and
that violence claimed the lives of Reverend James Reeb of Boston and of
Viola Liuzzo of Detroit at that time as she returned from the Selma
march--a time when 25,000 strong or more marched across the Montgomery
bridge.
We understand that our job is yet not done. In the wake of the
decision by the Supreme Court that crippled the Voting Rights Act, we
as members of the Judiciary Committee, led by our colleagues Mr.
Clyburn and John Conyers, sought to correct that crippling.
Today, I stand and ask my chairman and the Speaker of the House to
have us put that fix with the new Members, our Republicans and
Democrats--the same body of individuals who President Johnson
convened--to be able to ensure that that Voting Rights Act of 1965
could be done. It is important to note that we not allow the efforts to
go unnoted.
Mr. Speaker, the voter ID law in Texas needs to be corrected by
passing the Voting Rights Amendment Act. The terrible oppression of
individuals in their walks to the polls has to be corrected by this
amendment. Of course, we must ensure against the horrors of wealth
inequality. The median income of Black households is $33,764--a mere 60
percent of the median income for White households.
Then, of course, we must move to criminal justice reform. I am
privileged, Mr. Speaker, to serve as the ranking member on the Crime
Subcommittee, and I join my colleagues in the commitment to ensure that
we, in fact, answer the call of the mothers of so many, such as those
of Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Bobby Tolan,
Jordan Baker, and many others, that we have grand jury reform, special
prosecutor reform, prison reform--the transitioning of nonviolent
offenders to productive lives--law enforcement training and best
practices.
Yes, the bill that I introduced, the Build TRUST Act, will not give
incentives to towns that rely upon racial profiling and on stopping
African Americans and other minorities to build their revenue.
Mr. Speaker, tonight, I have the opportunity to remind us that our
walk is not done in wealth inequality, in criminal justice reform and,
as I know that my colleague Mr. Green will mention, in the body
cameras. All of these--closing the wealth gap and passing the Voting
Rights Act--are challenges not to Democrats, not to minorities; they
are to the Nation, to our Republicans and our Democrats.
So I answer the question why we cannot wait: because Dr. King left us
a prophetic message and a mountain to climb to get to the promised
land.
Tonight, as I close, I call upon all aspects of the beloved community
that John Lewis so often speaks of--the youth who continue to persist
in the streets of America, indicating that Black lives and all lives
matter; women, the impoverished, the faith community, workers, and many
others whose names I have left out. Today, I ask for them to join hands
and march in the month of March in your own cities and hamlets and
counties on an agenda of healing, justice, and equality in
commemoration of the march of those who crossed on that bloody day but
of those who crossed as well successfully from Selma to Montgomery.
Do not sit in your seats. Do not sit in your homes. March in the
month of March. Let me hear your voices. Let us see you. Let us join
you. You call us, and we will join you in those marches to make a
difference in this Nation. I ask for that to all of my colleagues
tonight.
Mr. PAYNE. Thank you.
I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green).
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Thank you, Mr. Payne.
Mr. Speaker, because time is of the essence, please allow me to get
right to my message.
Where were we in 1965? I will relate this to Congress. In 1965, when
they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, there were five African American
Members of Congress. Now there are 48. In 1965, there were four Latino
Members of Congress. Now there are 38. There were three Asian Americans
in Congress. Now we have a total of 14. There were 14 women in
Congress. We now have 104.
Where were we? We were at a point in our history when it was turning
for us, but it was a bloody point in our history because, when
President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, he signed it in ink,
but it was written in blood. It was written in the blood of the people
who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in the blood of the people who
lived and died so that some of us could have these opportunities to
serve in the Congress of the United States of America. That is where we
were.
We have progressed. We have more Members of Congress, but in a true
sense, it is back to the future because we have seen the evisceration
of section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, which emasculated section 5 of
the Voting Rights Act, meaning you don't have any States or any
territories under section 4 so you cannot preclear them under section
5. We are now back to a point wherein we have to find a way to
revitalize and to reinstate section 4 of the Voting Rights Act.
I am sorry that the time has run out, but I do want to say this: if
we with only five Members of Congress could get a Voting Rights Act
passed, one would think that with 48 we can get it reinstated.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, along
with my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus,
[[Page H692]]
to recognize the lasting legacy of the Selma marches. 50 years ago, Dr.
Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, Congressman John Lewis, and a
number of other fearless fighters, led the historic marches from Selma
to Montgomery, Alabama in protest of discriminatory voting laws.
In the years prior to the Selma marches, less than 1% of the black
voting age population was registered to vote in Dallas County, where
Selma is located. However, more than 80% of Dallas County blacks lived
below the poverty line. Various efforts to get blacks in Dallas County
registered to vote were met physical violence and economic
intimidation. But with the local leadership of the Dallas County Voters
League, and the help of two national organizations, the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolence
Coordinating Committee, the Selma marches were born.
During the first march from Selma to Montgomery, in what would become
known as ``Bloody Sunday,'' the nation watched in horror as African
Americans were brutally beaten by police officers, attacked by dogs,
and sprayed by fire hoses. Their courage, in the face of dehumanizing
treatment from law enforcement, thrust the issue of segregation and
race relations in the Deep South into the national consciousness. It
led to President Lyndon B. Johnson presenting to a joint session of
Congress what would become the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the most
important piece of civil rights legislation in the history of this
country.
50 years later, the images of ``Bloody Sunday'' are permanently
etched into our Nation's history as a deep and painful reminder of the
struggles we triumphantly conquered to get to where we are today. And
yet, the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, at the hands of law
enforcement, serve as tragic reminders that we still have so far to go.
The work of Selma is not finished. The work of Dr. King, Stokely
Carmichael, and Congressman Lewis is not finished. But we must remain
encouraged and faithful for the progress still left to achieve. While
the discriminatory voting laws of the 1960s are no more, we have
encountered a new brand of voter disenfranchisement in 2015 that poses
a serious threat to the electoral process. And once again, the great
citizens of this nation must fight to protect their constitutional
right to vote. It is with the painful lessons learned from the marches
on Selma, and with the same tenacity and fearlessness that we will
continue to fight this battle today.
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